Juan Carlos Perez

(IDG News Service) — Walmart.com has begun selling Lindows.com Inc.'s Linux-based operating system, the first stand-alone operating system not made by Microsoft Corp. to be featured at Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s online store, Lindows.com announced Tuesday.

LindowsOS 3.0 Membership Edition is available now at Walmart.com for $98.72. The operating system comes with a one-year membership to the Lindows.com Warehouse, a collection of over 1,700 software programs. The membership lets users download any of the Warehouse programs for free and keep them for life.

Available programs include the office suite StarOffice 6.0 from Sun Microsystems Inc., which normally retails for $75, the Bitstream Inc. Deluxe Font Pack, which costs $99, as well as many other programs for things such as creating and editing multimedia files and for managing personal finances, from a wide variety of software developers. A one-year access to the Lindows.com Warehouse normally costs $99.

The LindowsOS also includes support for Microsoft Corp. file types, including for Word, Excel and PowerPoint file types.

Lindows.com also announced that Walmart.com is now selling 16 Microtel Computer Systems Inc. PCs loaded with LindowsOS 3.0 and LindowsOS MP3.com Edition, a version of the operating system which comes with over 100 songs in digital format chosen from the MP3.com song library. The LindowsOS Microtel PCs sold at Walmart.com range in price from about $200 to $500 and use chips from Intel Corp., Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Via Technologies Inc.

Walmart.com sells a variety of stand-alone versions of Windows desktop operating systems, including Windows 2000 Professional for $299.96, Windows XP Professional Edition OEM Version for $198.98 and Windows XP Home Edition OEM Version for $119.98. Upgrades are also available.